No welcome mat for Vietnamese officials

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“We really don't want 'em,” is how Councilman Bruce Broadwater, the incoming mayor, explained it to a crowd of cheering Vietnamese Americans last week.

The council adopted a resolution to discourage representatives and officials from communist Vietnam from visiting Garden Grove. Vietnamese delegations will be required to alert the city of a visit 14 days before arrival, and they'll be charged for police services if they fail to abide by the policy, according to the resolution.

“That government is despicable and should not be promoted,” said Councilwoman Dina Nguyen

Vietnamese Americans in the council's chamber erupted in cheers and multiple standing ovations throughout the meeting. They spoke of their history, their fight for freedom and the lack of human rights in their native land.

“Maybe to the general public of the United States, the war ended in 1975. But the fight for freedom and human rights continues,” said Neil Nguyen, president of the Vietnamese American Federation of Southern California.

In Santa Ana, the City Council on Nov. 19 directed city staff to prepare a similar resolution. Both Garden Grove and neighboring Westminster, home to the nation's largest Little Saigon, adopted such policies in 2004, but both have expired.

Hung Ba Nguyen, the consul general of Vietnam in San Francisco, said such resolutions have no impact. “It can't be enforced. It has no binding legal value,” Nguyen said Friday.

At least 10 Vietnamese delegations visit Orange County annually, according to Nguyen. All visits are coordinated with the State Department, not local agencies.

“The relationship with the United States is very robust,” Nguyen said.

The United States and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam resumed diplomatic relations in 1995, under President Bill Clinton. But Vietnamese American leaders from Orange County have led the opposition against trade with Vietnam. Earlier this year, Vietnamese American leaders from across the country presented the White House with a petition that called on the administration to leverage expansion of ties with Vietnam with the release of political prisoners. The petition, which garnered more than 130,000 signatures, originated in Garden Grove.

Nguyen called those who oppose Vietnam “extremists” who will do “everything they can to weaken their homeland.”

“Such wrongful resolutions just do harm to the many Americans having interests in doing business with Vietnam and never block any exchange of delegations between the two governments,” Nguyen said.

Garden Grove officials said visits from the communist country to Garden Grove and Westminster create safety risks and a financial burden. They provoke protests that require expensive police protection, officials said.

Last week in Houston, Councilman Al Hoang said he was threatened by a gunman at his home after he welcomed the vice minister of Vietnam in an attempt to promote trade, a relationship between the countries and direct flights to Vietnam, according to KHOU/11 News television station in Texas.

Unlike the past resolution Garden Grove passed, this one has no specific date for expiration. Instead, the resolution will expire “at the time when the U.S. State Department officially declares that Vietnam is a free and democratic nation.”

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